Sports, Tuesday, August 18th

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

WACO Football Looking to Find Rhythm After Graduating Coble, Others:

It will be a youth movement in Wayland this year.

Chad Edeker, entering his 20th season as the head coach of WACO, will be looking to find his next crop of standouts after graduating an outstanding crop of seniors including quarterback Nik Coble, WR Jaden Williams, and OL Gabe Reichenbach and Braeden Hammond.

WACO, who finished last year 4-5 and 3-4 in district action, will rely heavily on a more balanced offensive scheme this season without the fireworks of Nik Coble.

Coble accounted for 51 touchdowns last year — 26 through the air and 25 on the ground — and for the Warriors to be successful this year, Edeker knows it will be an all hands on deck approach to replacing Coble.

WACO does have two returning starters on the defensive line — Landon Provino and Chancey Miller —  another spot Edeker believes his team can be strong at.

Also returning on the defensive side of the ball is Will Edeker and Jonah Clark.

Provino, Miller and Edeker are three of just four seniors on this year’s group.

The key this year will be our junior class” Edeker told KILJ.

They had a lot of success at the JV level last year as sophomores, we’re expecting them to step up their level of play to a varsity level to fill in the gaps for a smaller senior class.”

Despite the youth movement, Edeker believes that this year’s team can compete for a district title.

WACO will open their season August 28th at HLV.

Here’s their full 2020 Schedule:

8-28: at HLV

9-4: at New London

9-11: Lone Tree

9-18: at Moravia

9-25: at Tri-County

10-2: Montezuma (HC)

10-9 at Winfield-Mount Union

Mount Pleasant Baseball Announces Team Honors:

The Mount Pleasant baseball team has announced their team-voted honors for the 2020 season.

Co-Offensive Player of the Year

Nik Coble

Clayton Lowery

Defensive Player of the Year

Rylan Seberg

Most Improved Player

Chase Williamson

Rookie of the Year

Jack Johnson

Coaches Award

Sawyer Carrasco

MVP

Corbin Broeker

The Panther baseball team were crowned Southeast Conference champions before falling in the second round of the postseason to top-ranked Davenport Assumption.

All Virtual, No Sports, DPOE Says:

School districts that opt for 100% online learning may not get to play sports this fall.

The Iowa Department of Education announced late last week that if a school district moves to 100% online or remote learning, all “in-person activities and practices would need to be suspended during the period of 100% remote learning.”

The Department of Education did say that extracurricular activities could still be held virtually.

That would include sports sponsored through the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union, as well as activities sanctioned through the Iowa High School Music Association and the Iowa High School Speech Association.

The statement was made in conjunction with the department’s return to learn guidance released last month.

Last night, the first domino fell as Des Moines Public Schools voted to move their learning 100% online but will continue with fall activities for now, as the Department of Education’s recommendation was just that — a recommendation.

The Des Moines Public School Districts says activities are voluntary, not compulsory so the district will go against the Department of Educations’s recommendation to suspend fall sports.

Iowa Projects a Loss of 100 Million in Revenue: 

Iowa Director of Athletics Gary Barta is feeling the heat.

Yesterday Barta penned a letter to Hawkeye faithful detailing the grim news about the future of the athletic program and it’s not good.

Barta anticipates lost revenue of approximately $100 million and an overall budget deficit of between $60-75 million and has begun working on finding solutions to that revenue loss.

Barta did say the Big Ten Conference and the Iowa athletics department staff have already started working diligently on the winter and spring sport seasons.